Noche is a Lechuza by night, an ethereal jet-black owl who guides the dead to the afterlife. Except now, Noche cannot bring herself to escort her dead girlfriend, whose soul is fading the harder Noche holds on—an aching romance about first and second loves and finding the strength to let go.
A New York Public Library Best Book of 2025
An International Latino Award Gold Medal Winner
A Pura Belpré Author Award Winner
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book of the Year
“A spellbinding, hauntingly beautiful story that weaves together love, loss, and the supernatural.”
—AIDEN THOMAS, New York Times bestselling author of The Sunbearer Trials and The Cemetery Boys
Death waits for Estrella (Noche) Villanueva. In her human form, she is a lonely science girl grieving the tragic accidental drowning of her girlfriend, Dante Fuentes. At night, she is a Lechuza who visits her dead girlfriend at the lake, desperate for more time with her. The longer Dante’s soul roams the earth, the more likely it is that she will fade into the unknown, lost forever, but Noche cannot let go . . .
That’s when a new kid comes to town, Jax, another science nerd like Noche. They connect in a way she can’t ignore, seemingly pulled together by an invisible thread. For the first time, Noche begins to imagine a life without Dante. As Noche’s heart begins to beat for two people, her guilt flares. Then, she finds herself at risk of losing both Jax and Dante, and Noche is forced to question her purpose as a lechuza and everything she has ever believed in.
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